Full-Sun Coffee Farms Are Harming the Environment
Monday,
Jul 14
Jul 14
The researchers conducting the study pointed out that not only do full-sun farms degrade the environment, but the coffee itself cannot flourish with the sun beating down on it constantly. Statistics associated with the study show that the number of farms using shade dropped from 43 to 24 percent between 1996 and 2010, at which point over 40 percent of coffee farms utilized no shade whatsoever.
These numbers were most drastically affected by the vast increase in the coffee industries of Brazil and Vietnam, where the evidence shows that over three quarters of the coffee grown on farms in those nations sees no shade at all.
In addition to the loss of so many natural environmental benefits, growing coffee in full-sun conditions requires more pesticides, due to the lack of birds and other animals that can control the insect population, not to mention more fertilizers because the plants are surrounded by fewer areas of rich soil. Many people even argue that coffee grown in these conditions tastes off.
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/29/sustainable-coffee_n_5175192.html
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